PERC 2013 Abstract Detail Page

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) was distributed to members of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in order to measure attitudes and beliefs about learning physics from physics graduates across the UK. We present results from a comparison of the attitudes and beliefs of male and female academics, industry members and people at different levels of academia. Data indicates a statistically significant gender difference between academics' responses to statements probing their attitudes towards studying and learning physics. Female academics are seen to have a significantly higher agreement with the 'expert' response to some statements on the CLASS survey than male academics. In addition, female academics show a consistently different response to males in each of the eight survey categories. Preliminary results suggest that the 'expert' view for some statements, as measured by responses from UK academics, may not be in complete agreement with those of US faculty members.